


Wheat bread would you like?

by Aibhilin



Series: Aibhilin's One Piece Flashfic/Drabble/Oneshot Section [12]
Category: One Piece
Genre: (Luffy's interpretation of those though so), Baking, Blink and you'll miss it, Bread, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Not Beta Read, Other, Political Alliances, Potentially even, bread pun, sanlaw if you squint, woah a rarepair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:07:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23615704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/pseuds/Aibhilin
Summary: Law says he doesn't eat bread. Sanji is curious.Oneshot.
Relationships: Aka Ashi no Zeff | Red-Leg Zeff & Vinsmoke Sanji, Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Trafalgar D. Water Law, Trafalgar D. Water Law & Vinsmoke Sanji
Series: Aibhilin's One Piece Flashfic/Drabble/Oneshot Section [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951219
Comments: 19
Kudos: 205





	Wheat bread would you like?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [codedredalert](https://archiveofourown.org/users/codedredalert/gifts).
  * Inspired by [A hug a day 11: Sanji](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/582034) by codedredalert.tumblr.com. 



> This was inspired by a pic that crossed my dash of Sanji and Law talking about bread and with the comment underneath:  
> "craving a lawsan fic where sanji goes through bread recipes in a comedy montage style and finally stumbles upon a traditional flevance recipe that law eats and for once doesnt complain about bc it’s the Only Valid Bread and now he’s too busy crying"  
> Hope you'll like the fic that it's inspired? XD I had fun researching bread puns... even though I only ended up using the one in the title.

"I don't like bread!!" a voice could be heard from back on deck, a kinda desperate-sounding one, the one from the newly allied captain. Ah, he'd have to prepare him some sushi rolls, in that case. With Sanji's mind preoccupied with snack-making recipes and the others' orders, it didn't ring up as anything out of the ordinary at first.

Actually, it wasn't until he'd gone and taken a smoke after the snacking was done and over with, readying cleaning supplies and absent-mindedly filling the sink with hot water for the dishwashing, that he registered the weirdness of that statement.

He didn't like bread, huh?

Sanji wasn't sure if he ought to be offended on behalf of every baker he knew or if he should take it as a challenge. The doctor hadn't said anything more on his preferences, though, so he let it rest, for now. Pulling up recipes that he'd stowed away in his mind as though going through a catalogue, he mechanically scrubbed at the dishes and the cutlery that had been used.

Something came to him, then: it was entirely possible that the doctor was actually allergic to something to do with bread, or it could simply be a preference of his. Both were similarly believeable, to him.

As a cook, he'd seen a lot already, ranging from simple dislikes up to allergic reactions happening because the person hadn't known they'd react to whatever had been in the dish.

In his line of work, you didn't disregard people's preferences simply because you thought you knew better. In fact, it was dangerous to do so, even.

The utterance had brought to light that he still hadn't properly sat down and talked to the doctor about his likes and dislikes and/or allergies regarding food yet, and it had definitely been remiss of him not to do so already. He could kick himself for that, really. A ship's cook didn't have the luxury of ignorance, not when it concerned the health of the people on said ship.

The blond cook resolved to make a beeline for Law the next time he had a free minute.

* * *

A free minute was hard to come by on the Strawhat's vessel, he really should have known that by now. Finished with the dishes and having put everything away and the kitchen spotless once more, he'd ventured outside only to find that they'd been attacked by another pirate ship while he'd been busy.

No wonder the habitual shouting and screaming that he'd heard through the door had gone up in volume. He sighed, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it at his leisure. Trust Luffy to create a big enough nuisance of himself to attract newbies and rookie pirate-wannabees who wanted to measure their meagre fighting skills against the Strawhats'. Grimacing a little at his very likely accurate judgement of the other crews' experience level, he went to lean against the railing.

The mosshead was already fighting against them, and with Luffy's enthusiastic backing? Most likely, it would take about a minute until they were done.

He had a more important mission to take care of, at the moment. The Strawhat found Law, predictably, guarding their hostage, leaving the fighting shenanigans for the others to take care of and keeping a vigilant eye over the proceedings from afar.

Law was sitting on the floor against a railing a bit to the side of the hostage - ah, that still took some getting used to, they had a _hostage_ now - a hostage who was... asleep? Through all that ruckus? Stranger things had been known to happen on this particular ship.

Leaning over the body a bit, undeniably curious at what he perceived to be a weird formation to the side of the head, he realised that it turned out to be an impressive bump he saw there. Bonked to sleep, then. Nothing new.

Knocked out as he was, the scientist wouldn't be able to listen in on anything Sanji and Law would converse about, which served the chef just fine. Allied captain or not, it wouldn't do for anyone Luffy had taken a shine to to spill their secrets and or weaknesses where enemies could overhear them. A possible food allergy with potentially fatal consequences? That definitely fell under that category.

No one else was anywhere close by, either, and what with the fight going on at the front of their ship the chances to be heard were nigh zero, without them having to resort to mumbling or some such nonsense.

Ambling over to the Heart Pirates' captain's seat, he leaned against the railing to look out over the sea, a few feet to the left of him. Pulling a bit at his cigarette, he raised it away from his face and blew out smoke.

"... is it an allergy? Or is it just a dislike of bread in general?" he opened with. Not the smoothest line he'd ever used, but then again, he wasn't dealing with a Lady, nor was he particularly inclined to be respectful, either. Sanji would follow Luffy's lead in this, and if Luffy said Law was someone to be handled like any other friend they'd made during their journey so far, he'd treat him as such.

What he got for his effort was a sideways glance and the silence dragging on. Lightly irritated, Sanji continued, "I'm the ship's cook. If there's anything you can't eat, I need to know." Taking another drag from his cigarette, he waited.

"It's not an allergy." the other's deep voice answered and it sounded almost as if he'd had to remind himself to answer in the first place.

Good. He could work with that. "Not an allergy" opened up a whole new line of questions, though. Scrunching his eyebrows together, he slowly asked, "If it's not an allergy...?"

"I'm not gonna eat bread."

His visible eyebrow rose in askance. Not that he was one to pry, but the vehemence with which he was determined not to eat bread spoke volumes. Probably something to do with his upbringing...? Certainly, it piqued his curiosity. Where in the world did he hail from, anyways?

The captain's faint accent denoted him as a person with a North Blue heritage, and from what Sanji could remember, bread from that region hadn't been particular in anything but its almost-stale flavourlessness. No wonder he wouldn't eat bread, but the blond cook wondered if it was more than a dislike that kept him from even so much as trying new bread types... he had to have been on the Grand Line for long enough to see that bread from other regions could actually be labelled as tasty and increasingly delicious, the farther towards the South Blue one went.

Frankly, it was none of his business. He could go and offer him an olive branch, though.

"Any type you'd ever want to try? Any other kind of food that you like in particular, instead?" Patience proved to be the way to go with their guest of honour and Sanji had lots of it to spare, interestingly enough not finding it offensive any longer, not when it came to the reclusive-like captain besides him.

Snow started to fall, snowflakes slowly gliding down onto the ship. Grand Line weather befuddled him at the best of times, he couldn't bring himself to move a finger any longer when it deigned to cover them in white all of a sudden.

"... you won't find it anywhere. I doubt a recipe even exists any more." the doctor seemed to brace himself, before admitting, "I am partial to sushi rolls. So thanks for those, I guess."

A North Blue bread recipe that didn't exist any more... Sanji resolved to make that the next reason for calling the Baratie during what he knew would be one of their downtimes. Dinner was fast approaching, and he'd have to get back into the kitchen to make sure his black hole of a captain wouldn't starve. Taking one last drag from his cigarette, he put it out and said to Law, "I'm heading back inside, dinner is gonna be soon. Tell the others to wash their hands before, will you?" not caring whether or not the allied captain would do so.

( _As had become a habit, he'd repeat himself over and over, it was practically a given with the way this crew behaved. One more reminder wouldn't hurt._ )

( _And if he managed to include Law in the process, well. Luffy had said he was a friend, so he better got used to being treated thusly._ )

( ~~ _Had he been in Law's shoes, he'd miss his crew most of all. He'd be welcome to share theirs for the time being._~~ )

* * *

The Den Den Mushi they'd appropriated from the last attacking pirate ship and which had been hoarded like anything of value by their trusted treasurer ( _"Your debt will increase by 10%, but that's only because it's you who asks, Sanji!" - "Yes, Nami-swaaaan~!"_ ) proved useful in that it provided him with a means of contacting the Baratie. He didn't know if the signal would reach that far, but he'd find that out in short order.

Truly, the call was brief and to the point, especially once he got Zeff on the line. ( _Patty was reliable and efficient when it came to conversations. Ah, good old Patty._ )

Bread recipes from the North Blue that met Zeff's high standards in terms of taste and looks were sparse and hard to come by, as Sanji had already expected.

In the end, he'd managed to extract a few he could try from the grumpy old chef, along with an account of what all he was missing, galivanting along the Grand Line, delivered with a heavy dose of sarcasm and in the vexed tones of one incredibly fond of their underlings but still wanting to gripe and grouse about whatever cooking-related shenanigans they managed to get up to when he dared lose sight of them for five minutes.

* * *

Armed with half a dozen new and on-the-verge-of-being-extinct bread recipes, he went to make them. If anything living with Luffy on the same ship had taught him, it was that food would get eaten, never mind by whom.

It took some time, during which nothing out of the ordinary happened for once. That was remarkable, for Luffy's record in low-level shenanigans-only had rarely thus far lasted this long. No, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Sanji decided to let it be.

When he finished and the loaves were baking in the oven, he wasn't sure how to bring what he'd been doing up to Law. "Hello, I know you don't eat bread, but you said you'd try that one recipe and I've decided to take that as a challenge and here you go?" sounded a bit flat to his ears.

In the end, he'd only had to fend off Luffy's attempts to get at "what smelled so goooood" thrice before he simply resolved to pull the loaves out of the oven, assemble a good-looking plate with all of them and head out to where the doctor still - again? - sat on the floor of their deck, with his back against the railing.

"Oy, shitty captain. Move out of the way or I'm gonna hit you." Luffy pouted but stepped aside and turned to follow him and the plate, a curious expression flitting over his face.

"Law. Here." Manners aside, it was still a man he was talking to, and an allied captain at that. He needn't have bothered, most probably. Lighting a cigarette, he moved to the left of the captain to lean against the railing, mirroring the position they'd been in at the time of their talk about bread.

Leisurely, he took a drag and blew out the smoke, declaring, "You did say there was one bread you'd eat. I've prepared a few. Will you taste-test them for me to see if I've found the correct recipe?"

The sideways glance was suspicious, although the other captain's shoulders and frame remained more relaxed than not. Law was a rather paranoid person, wasn't he? Sanji was even more sure that he'd be able to jump up and fight in the blink of an eye, if need be.

Six loaves lay untouched on the plate, giving off warmth and an aromatic smell to anyone nearby. ( _Sanji made sure to give a glare over his shoulder at Luffy one more time to make his black hole of a captain back off_ )

Once he'd set eyes on the breads, however, Law appeared to stare into nothing for a bit, his face blank and the little of expression he'd dare show in their recent company gone as if it had never been there to begin with. That... was concerning.

Had he not kept one eye on the doctor ( _the other one on Luffy, always in his peripheral vision, to see if he'd dare eat something Sanji had made explicitly for someone else, although knowing he wouldn't_ ), he'd probably have missed the moment that he seemed to snap himself out of whatever it was ( _A memory?_ ).

An aborted hand motion was brought under the allied captain's control immediately, as if he'd expected a perceived weakness would be pounced upon. The tough childhood theory sounded more and more likely. Huffing a little, Sanji concluded that for whatever time span he'd be sailing with them, he'd fit right in.

Almost hesitantly, hypnotised, Law stared at and then reached for a bread on the far right of the arrangement. He was looking more and more like he'd seen a ghost. Ah, that was the one from... what was the country's name again? Zeff had mentioned it had gone down under more than a decade ago... White something?

Sanji noticed that the scientist had been brought inside forcefully by then. Huh, marimo could read the mood, who knew? Carelessly, he took another drag of the cigarette, a soft smile gracing his mouth.

At his left, a man Luffy called his friend sat on the floor, his trusted sword by his side and Luffy joining him on the other, silent for the rare occasion that this was. His captain was good at that.

The weirdly patterned hat moved askew a bit, having been pulled into the doctor's face and the sound of someone biting into bread could be made out underneath sniffles and tears dropping to the floor like rain. While Sanji hadn't expected the bawling, he'd certainly thought that maybe, just maybe, an emotional thing was behind the other captain's reluctance to eat anything resembling bread.

Curling into himself, Law had drawn his legs towards his body, burying his head into his knees and crying his heart out, silently and as quietly as possible, it seemed. Crying silently... it was something you had to learn, it was not anything you did naturally and Sanji knew that probably better than most.

Luffy provided a pillar to lean on should the other captain need it and Sanji? He provided them company and another topic to talk about, should they need one.

Taking another, long drag from his cigarette, he kept up a steady stream of smoke being blown out of his mouth.

"There's more where that came from." was all he said.

**Author's Note:**

> Somehow, Luffy wormed his way into this XD  
> Let me know if they were particularly OOC?
> 
> Yakitate! Japan bread recipes that I ended up NOT USING ftw.... research is ridiculous sometimes.
> 
> Also, with this oneshot, I've now published >200k words on this website alone O_O that's amazing!!! 70k of which have been written SINCE LAST DECEMBER!!! Milestone: reached. Writing: done. Haircut: Maybelline. XD I'm silly...
> 
> Leave a comment if you're in the mood & have time for it~


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